Raytown Schools???

Move down to Raymore! I love it and the school district! I also do not use ANY toxics in my home! Nice to meet you!

S.
www.workathomeunited.com/S.

I don't know alot about the Raytown school district, but I do know there are alot of houses around the 350Hwy/Bannister Rd. area that are Kansas City addresses/Lee's Summit schools. There was a possibility at one point that my husband was going to have to have a KC, MO address. We would've looked in that area.

Raytown schools are great. In reference to High Schools, Raytown high is much better than South. The best resource I have found is www.greatschools.net you just search for the school in question and it will give you so much information on it. Testing averages and so much more. The Eastern Elementaries are the better ones. Fleetridge, Norfleet, Robinson...these are all great schools. My son goes to Norflet and we love it.

N.

Hi M.!
The best way to find out about the schools is to look up their annual reports. Districts have them on their web sites. Just look for "annual report" and the disaggragated DESE info BY SCHOOL.
Because the truth is, some parents are going to think the schools are great, while others think they're not. It all depends on their personal experiences, how conscientious they are as parents, and how involved/uninvolved they were in their children's education. And in some districts (unlike Hickman Mills) there is sometimes a rather significant difference between it's own schools-- example, one high school is pretty good, while the other is pretty bad. Raytown is one of those districts. My brother in law used to teach in Raytown schools-- he was over the entire orchestra program, so he went from school to school. There are also several police officers who live within KC boundaries, but are in Raytown schools. Have your husband talk to Porter—I think he’s still at South Patrol. He’s lived and raised his kids in that part of KC and they all go Raytown schools.
Raytown has two high schools. Raytown Senior High, and Raytown South. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember which one was the better one—but the officers my husband was talking to had very strong opinions about which was the better school.
And my brother in law did too – I can ask him. I just can’t remember which school of the two was known to be the better one. My gut is telling Raytown Senior (not south) is the better one, but I might be remembering wrong.
You can always call the Raytown department and ask them, too.

I too disagree with the first post. We have our 15 year old brother enrolled there at Raytown High School(we've been raising him since my MIL passed away last year). The school is great in my opinion. His teachers have always communicated very well with me. I email them quite often about his grades and progress and they are quick to get back to me. I feel like it is a team effort to help him succeed in his school work. They also have a great tool called "PowerSchool" where parents and students can log in onto the website and check homework grades, assignment due dates, teachers comments, class attendance, tardiness, etc... This is an excellent tool to help parents stay involved in their kids' school activities and success. Another (small) thing is that they have an automated message system that calls home when school is cancelled or for other important event reminders, just a nice convenience. Of course there are always going to be students who get into trouble or less than motivated teachers in any school district, but as a whole I think Raytown High is a pretty good school. Let's just say they've exceeded what I had expected.

I disagree with the other comment. I have lived in Raytown my entire life and went to Raytown schools (graduated in 98). My children now attend Raytown schools. My friends' children all attend Raytown schools. They are no different than any other school district with their share of problems....but I think they are great.

Raytown schools have excellent intelligent administration and teachers. I am VERY impressed with the academics being taught there. My kids both attend Raytown schools and learn a lot. Since I also teach them at home, so if they're happy with the education at school, it must be stimulating them enough.

There is a little problem with some of the kids' behavior but there are so many support systems in place to address that. As a parent, I am having conversations with the district now to help their wonderful philosophy be better communicated throughout the schools so it can be even more effective. You can read Dr. Houck's blog on the website.

Raytown schools will provide your son a great education from great teachers. The extra-curricular activities are very impressive, too. Good luck!

I use to work at Raytown South High School and I do not recommend putting your kid in that High School. I think that Raytown High is better that South. I have heard good things about the powerschool program they have, but that is all.

I would strongly recommend you NOT putting your son in the Raytown public schools. I had a friend whose son that age came home beaten on a weakly basis by gangs at the school. His money, clothes and shoes were robbed right off him and nothing was ever done. They finally moved to Lee's Summit and he is doing great there.

I too have to disagree with the firt person who posted, my daughter attends Raytown Middle. I love the powerschool program the school has--this is a web site where you can check the childs grade. You also get daily emails of what the homework is. It is extremely helpful. The only issue we have is with our daughter is that she personally is not doing what she's needing to do--turn in assignments--but the teachers are being very helpful and encouraging. They have even set up after school study times if the students are struggling and a test is coming up.

In all honesty in every school district you are going to have problems, it's the real world.

Good Luck, and by the way I'm getting ready to sell my home and I live in Raytown and as I stated my daughter goes to Raytown Middle and we are w/in walking distance to Raytown Highschool.

Good Luck in your decision.